“A woman growing up under American ideas of liberty in government and religion, having never blushed behind a Turkish mask, nor pressed her feet in Chinese shoes, cannot brook any disabilities based on sex alone, without a deep feeling of antagonism with the power that creates it.” IdeasFeelingsGovernmentSexBehindsLibertyGrowing UpGrowingFeetShoesChineseMaskDisabilityBrooksTurkishAntagonismDeep Feeling Author:Susan B. Anthony
“Attempts to limit female mobility by hampering locomotion are ancient and almost universal. The foot-binding of upper-class Chinese girls and the Nigerian custom of loading women's legs with pounds of heavy brass wire are extreme examples, but all over the world similar stratagems have been employed to make sure that once you have caught a woman she cannot run away, and even if she stays around she cannot keep up with you. ... Literally as well as figuratively modern women's shoes are what keeps Samantha from running as fast as Sammy.” IfsWorldWellsHas BeensRunningGirlClassFeetModernExampleLimitsFemaleUniversalShoesAncientCaughtHeavyExtremesLegsChinesePoundsCustomsSexismRunning AwayEmployedWireBindingMobilityBrassUpper ClassStratagemModern WomanSamantha Author:Alison Lurie
“When we Chinese girls listened to the adults talk-story, we learned that we failed if we grew up to be but wives or slaves. We could be heroines, swordswomen. Even if she had to rage across all China, a swordswoman got even with anybody who hurt her family. Perhaps women were once so dangerous that they had to have their feet bound.” IfsStoriesGirlHurtWifeFeetDangerousGrewGrew UpAdultsIndependenceSlaveBoundsChinaRageChineseHeroines Book:The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts Source: The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
“What comforted me? That is easy. It was a strong cold chicken jelly so very, very thick. My mother's Chinese cook would fix it. He would cook it down, condense it-this broth with all sorts of feet in it, then it would gell into sheer bliss. It kept me alive once for three weeks when I was ill as a child. And I've always craved it since.” ChildrenMotherThreeStrongEasyAliveWeekFeetFoodColdCookingIllChineseCooksBlissCulinaryChickensThickSheerJelly Author:James Beard
“In investment management today, everybody wants not only to win, but to have a yearly outcome path that never diverges very much from a standard path except on the upside. Well, that is a very artificial, crazy construct. That's the equivalent in investment management to the custom of binding the feet of Chinese women” WantWellsTodayWinningPathFeetCrazyStandardsManagementInvestmentChineseOutcomesCustomsArtificialConstructsBindingInvestment Management Author:Charlie Munger